Aliens Character Vasquez Gets The Respect She Deserves With A Solo Book About Her Backstory
Your girl Jenette Vasquez is finally getting the fully fleshed-out backstory she deserves. I mean, there's probably plenty of fan fiction out there that covers all of the bases (and a few bases you never would have imagined), but it's still nice to see the ripped, bandana-wearing Xenomorph killer become the subject of a new "Aliens" book. And to make the news even better, it'll be hitting shelves soon(ish). The elaborately titled "Aliens: Vasquez" will drop by way of Titan Books on October 25, 2022 and it's difficult for me to imagine a better Halloween gift for yourself or others. Hell, you could start a book club around it.
Written by V. Castro, who has previously authored the evocatively titled books "Goddess of Filth" and "The Queen of the Cicadas" (both of which are immediately going on my reading list), "Aliens: Vasquez" will follow Vasquez from the beginning, chronicling her family's military history, her time spent in a street gang, getting sent to prison, and eventually making her way into the Colonial Marines, a job that forced her to leave her two children behind on earth and eventually lead to her death. While a few slivers of her story have been told in "Aliens" comics, this book sounds like the real deal.
We know how her story ends, but how does it begin?
Castro clearly has a lot to work with here. While Vasquez is a vital part of "Aliens" and her character's attitude and charisma make her one of the most fun personalities in the movie, she's not bogged down with backstory. Almost anything could have happened to Vasquez to bring her to the doomed Hadley's Hope on LV-426, which makes exploring those choices feel more exciting. We may know how Vasquez's story ends, but there's a world of large and small decisions that lead her there. On top of that, Vasquez's children make for an interesting way to prolong the story past her death. What are they like? What do they know of their mother? Do they also have her cool sci-fi gun skills? There are a lot of questions surrounding Vasquez's story and we'll definitely be getting some answers.
It's also nice to know that Castro seems as excited to tell Vasquez's story as fans are to read it. Soon after the novel was announced, Castro tweeted about her own connections to Vasquez's story as well as her enthusiasm at being the first Latina to write an "Aliens" book. Worry not, "Aliens" fans, it looks like your girl is in good hands.